Samba Power:Brazil's Modern Foreign Policy Directives towards the African Continent

Abstract

The following research paper has as the objective of analysing the development, implementation and results of Brazilian foreign policy towards the African continent. A brief, yet important historical background with relevant demographic and national attributes is included, with the focus on the history of foreign policy between the two from its recognition of the newly independent African states since the late 1950s and into the administrations of the last two Brazilian heads of state and government, Luis Inacio “Lula” Da Silva (2003-2010) and Dilma Rousseff (2011-2016). It is precisely during these last two periods where Africa became one of the top priorities for reaching and maintaining Brazilian national interests through international relations. The path chosen to pursue these goals is one related to what liberal and constructivist theories of international relations call soft power, a doctrine, in the Brazilian method, that emphasizes cultural, historical and ethnic links to Africa. Nevertheless, a delicate balance must be preserved with the domestic realities and constraints felt back in the home front, Brazil itself still being a country on the way to becoming truly “developed”, with many social problems remaining.